Migrant Families, World Cup, Beyoncé: Your Monday Briefing

June 18,2018 12:08

Migrant Families, World Cup, Beyoncé: Your Monday Briefing. Image. A protest on Sunday in Elizabeth, N.J., against “zero tolerance” immigration policy. Referring to the practice of separating families, the former first lady Laura Bush said: “It is immoral.and more »

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)Good morning.Here’s what you need to know:Bipartisan call to halt family separations• Republican lawmakers, Laura Bush, the conservative tabloid The New York Post and a onetime adviser to President Trump have joined Democrats in condemning the administration’s practice of separating children from their parents when apprehended at the border.Nearly 2,000 children were removed from their parents in a six-week period. The administration, which announced a “zero tolerance” approach this spring, has argued that it was just enforcing the law, a false assertion that Mr. Trump has made repeatedly.The House is set to vote this week on two immigration bills, a hard-line measure that is expected to fail, and a compromise version crafted by the House Republican leadership.• Parents are not supposed to be deported without their children, according to the authorities. But immigration lawyers say that has happened in several cases. “I cannot convey enough how much utter chaos there is,” said a member of an organization that monitors immigration issues.

A back channel with North Korea• An American financier who lives in Singapore approached the Trump administration last summer with an unusual proposition: The North Korean government wanted to talk to Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and adviser.As a member of the president’s family, officials in Pyongyang judged, Mr. Kushner would have the ear of his father-in-law and be immune from the personnel changes that had convulsed the early months of the administration.• The outreach by the businessman, Gabriel Schulze, was one step in a circuitous path that led to last week’s handshake between President Trump and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.When secretaries become prison guards• With the Trump administration curtailing hiring in its quest to reduce the size of the government, some prisons are so short on guards that they regularly compel teachers, nurses, secretaries and other members of the support staff to step in.The practice of occasionally calling on support workers to serve as guards came under criticism during the Obama administration, which moved in its final year to cut back.

• But as the shortage of correctional officers has grown chronic, many prisons have been operating in a perpetual state of staffing turmoil. Some workers said they felt ill equipped and unsafe on the job, according to interviews and internal documents from the Bureau of Prisons. Read our investigation here.An earthshaking World Cup win• In a major World Cup upset, Mexico defeated Germany, 1-0, on Sunday in the tournament’s group stage. Read our report from the match, as well as our columnist’s take: The loss is not a disaster for the defending champions, but how it came about is cause for concern.(The celebrating in Mexico coincided with a small earthquake, which may have been set off by “mass jumping,” according to one group that monitors seismic activity.)South Korea and Sweden kick off today’s matches, starting at 8 a.m. Eastern. Find the latest updates here.• England plays its first match of the tournament tonight. A new coach, a new mind-set and a new generation of players have the team entering the World Cup with excitement.

Business• As President Trump tries to tilt global trade in America’s favor, he has largely focused on saving legacy sectors whose work forces have been hurt by globalization, automation and innovation.• The Senate is expected to vote today on a provision that would restore harsh penalties on ZTE, the Chinese telecommunications giant that violated American sanctions, setting up a rare fight between lawmakers and the White House. It’s one of the headlines to watch this week.• The chief of Volkswagen’s Audi luxury car division was arrested and jailed in Germany today in connection with emissions cheating, a further embarrassment for the carmaker.• Video gaming as a spectator sport has gone mainstream, and the Amazon-owned site Twitch has captured a majority of those who want to watch it live.Two-thirds of American households play video games, according to one trade group. Concerned that players can actually become addicted, the World Health Organization is adding “gaming disorder” to its compendium of medical conditions.• U.S. stocks were down on Friday. Here’s a snapshot of global markets today.

• Recipe of the day: Feeling the Monday blues? Let this melted-pepper-ricotta toast save the day.Over the Weekend• A last-ditch scramble by the Afghan government to persuade the Taliban to extend a three-day cease-fire proved futile, as the insurgents put out a statement saying they would go back to full-fledged war.• Voters in Colombia elected as president a populist conservative who tapped into dissatisfaction with the economy and a contentious peace deal with the country’s rebels.

Noteworthy• A new view of some very old treesAfter a three-year, $40 million restoration project, a grove of giant sequoias in Yosemite National Park has reopened, with less asphalt and more concern for the health of the trees. Here’s our report, complete with breathtaking photographs.

• Reality intrudes on a reality showTonight’s episode of “The Bachelorette” is the first since news emerged that one of the contestants was convicted last month of groping a woman in 2016. We examined that and some of the other shows whose characters’ real histories collided with their TV appearances.• Quotation of the day“They are kidnapping people from their home, starting with my father, who has the legal status.”— Natalie Garcia, 32, who watched immigration agents arrest her father, Jose Luis Garcia, as he was mowing his lawn. Mr. Garcia, a legal resident since 1988, was convicted of a misdemeanor in 2001.• The Times, in other wordsHere’s an image of today’s front page, and links to our Opinion content and crossword puzzles.

• What we’re readingAndrea Kannapell, our briefings editor, recommends this op-ed in The Washington Post: “Commentary on the U.S. practice of separating families at the border burned up Twitter over the weekend. The flames went higher when Laura Bush weighed in.”Back StoryAcross China and in many other parts of the world today, sleek dragon boats will line up, sticky rice dumplings will be eaten, and drums will thrum.The spectacle makes more sense if you know the Dragon Boat Festival’s origin tale.

Dragon boats in Zigui, China.CreditXinhua/Xiong Qi, via Getty ImagesMore than 2,000 years ago, China was divided into many kingdoms. In one realm, the indolent king preferred sycophants to tell him that his kingdom was thriving, though it was under constant threat from invaders. Only a civil servant named Qu Yuan persisted in warning of the danger.He was ostracized and eventually exiled. When he heard that enemy troops had invaded the kingdom he loved, he flung himself into the Miluo River.People rowed frantically in search of his body, beating drums and cymbals to scare away hungry fish, and throwing clumps of sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves into the water to distract them from his remains. Wine was tossed overboard to appease water dragons and wrathful sea gods.In China, Qu Yuan has come to be honored as a historical exemplar of selfless loyalty to the people. In 2007, the government reintroduced the Dragon Boat Festival — at the expense of the Mao-era Marxist May Day.

Tiffany May wrote today’s Back Story._____Your Morning Briefing is published weekdays and updated all morning. Browse past briefings here.Sign up here to get it by email in the Australian, Asian, European or American morning. To receive an Evening Briefing on U.S. weeknights, sign up here.Check out our full range of free newsletters here.What would you like to see here? Contact us at briefing@nytimes.com.